There’s no doubt that things would be running much smoother for the New England Patriots right now if Josh McDaniels was still in charge of the offense,
But the former offensive coordinator is in the beginnings of his second stint as an NFL head coach with the Las Vegas Raiders, while his former team is still struggling to find an offensive succession plan three weeks into the preseason.
Senior football advisor/offensive line coach Matt Patricia and offensive assistant/quarterbacks coach Joe Judge have both handled play-calling duties in the exhibition games. But Patriots coach Bill Belichick recently made it clear that he’ll have the final decision on things that happen on the offensive side of the ball just like he does on defense.
From an outsider’s perspective, it looks like an absolute mess right now in New England, especially with growing reports of the offense struggling. But McDaniels, who has been involved with the team for well over a decade in at least some capacity, didn’t appear all that concerned when fielding questions from the media on Wednesday.
“I think at the end of the day, Bill has a plan for everything he wants to do, and sometimes that plan has foresight that the rest of us don’t have,” said McDaniels.
Josh McDaniels on the Patriots' plan to replace him: "I think at the end of the day, Bill has a plan for everything he wants to do, and sometimes that plan has foresight that the rest of us don't have."
— Zack Cox (@ZackCoxNESN) August 24, 2022
The former Belichick disciple is preaching patience.
It’s honestly a fair point to bring up considering it isn’t easy replacing a longtime coordinator on either side of the ball. The Patriots are attempting to install new offensive schemes, which could take a while to implement successfully.
It isn’t a situation where someone just snaps their fingers and the offense suddenly works. There will certainly be growing pains as the team works to piece everything together.
The biggest hope is that they manage to do so quick enough to compete in an AFC East division on the verge of surpassing them.
